Posts Tagged ‘La Gloria Cubana’

The tasting of the titans“>titans met again for a tasting a few weeks back and this time we smoked true Cuban vintage cigar: a La Gloria Cubana Medaille d’Or No. 2 from 1985 (or even older). And look at the first picture below! Look at that varnished 8-9-8 box full of those gems. I mean, what’s not to like? Right?!? A gorgeous vitolla in a equally gorgeous box. And yes, we smoked a stick each. 🙂

The Gloria Cubanas Medaille d’Or series are often overlooked, I feel. Well, maybe even the whole brand? But make no mistakes, the varnished boxes for the Medaille D’Or cigars are a very clear and big sign: This is top dog material. Both on the inside and the outside. Apart from that, all the four cigars out of the series have very, very elegant shapes and are even nicer smokes. And so was this stick! I guess I can give it away right now, we all felt that this was one of the BEST cigars that we have smoked during a titan’s tasting. And we did smoke some really nice and rare ones. At least I like to think so.

Admittedly I got something of a “dud” – the almost proverbial dog rocket – out of the bunch. I am a bit of a magnet for those so no surprise there. Mine wouldn’t open up as much as the others and for some strange reasons the smoke dried out my palate quiet a bit. Never the less it was complex with fruity and leathery notes and it developed quite nicely over the one hour and 40 minutes I smoked it. Reading the tasting sheets from my fellows (see below) they were even more pleased with it. But again I was left in awe that a cigar that was at least 30 years old was still so expressive and present. Nothing like “doing archeology” and “guessing what it once was”. Can this be attributed to cigars or is it the varnished boxes and the waxed paper that keep those babies so tightly together that they age better? What do you think?

I am left again to thank the titans for the spectacular cigars, the nice company and their time and of course many thanks to the Portmann’s for their generosity and hospitality. We should meet more often! And not just because that would lead to more posts on this blog here. 🙂

For more impressions, details and description of the cigars please see the individual tasting sheets: